Engineering & Mining Journal

AUG 2017

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90 E&MJ • AUGUST 2017 www.e-mj.com
PROCESSING SOLUTIONS
The demonstration system can pro-
cess up to 170 kilograms/h of magnetite
but Kelsey plans to upscale the system to
a commercial level.
The technology, which is claimed to
have received signifi cant global interest,
will continue to be developed in South
Australia.
Technology May Eliminate
Slurry Tailings Dams
FLSmidth recently announced it will join
with Goldcorp to develop EcoTails, a new
system the company said is intended to
dramatically improve tailings and waste
rock disposal while economically pro-
cessing mine waste and increasing water
recovery and reuse by as much as 95%.
Together with Goldcorp, the world's
third largest gold miner, FLSmidth is
co-developing a system for co-mingling
dewatered tailings with waste rock in a
continuous process. Designed specifi -
cally for large-scale mining applications,
the system is expected to be environ-
mentally safer for managing tailings and
waste rock storage and has the potential
to eliminate conventional slurry tailings
dams completely. Combined with FLS-
midth's co-developed fi lter press dewater-
ing technology, co-mingling is described
as the missing piece of the puzzle to keep
costs low for dry stacked tailings.
"As water resources become increas-
ingly scarce and mining dams grow glob-
ally, so do the risks," said Todd Wisdom,
director of tailings systems, FLSmidth.
"We believe that the target for the in-
dustry is to completely eliminate tailings
dams, and to recirculate maximum water
back to the process. Highly dewatered
tailings is the sustainable route for tail-
ings disposal, and our work with Goldcorp
will help EcoTails develop into both a
technologically viable and economically
feasible solution for large-scale mining."
The solution is being studied for
full-scale testing at Peñasquito, Gold-
corp's largest mine, with an average dai-
ly throughput of 130,000 tons per day.
Co-mingled waste disposal has previously
only been used at small-scale mines us-
ing dozers, trucks, high-cost liquid-solid
separation processes, and signifi cant
manpower, making the solution too costly
for large-tonnage operations.
By using materials conveyance as the
energy source for the mixing, Goldcorp
and FLSmidth said they are testing a
low-energy, low-cost co-mingling solu-
tion, with the waste blended in transit
using specially designed material han-
dling technologies. This method, ac-
cording to the companies, will make the
solution economically competitive with
traditional tailings disposal methods for
large mines.
Co-mingling tailings with mine waste
in a continuous process produces a new
type of waste called GeoWaste. The fi l-
tered tailings cost is minimized by using
fast fi ltering technology and waste rock
to provide additional strength to the
blended material. The risk of acid rock
leaching from the waste rock is mini-
mized by the use of fi lter cake to fi ll the
voids of the waste rock matrix, greatly re-
ducing oxygen fl ux.
The system will be offered commer-
cially by FLSmidth following completion
of testing.
Our
Experience
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Individual
Solution
Hermann Paus Maschinenfabrik GmbH
Siemensstr. 1-9, 48488 Emsbueren/Germany
info@paus.de
www.paus.de
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